Tuesday, March 24, 2009

New for Spring: Pond Scum

So the stink eye from the rejected skein of STR for Ishbel was too much for me. I had to knit it up right away, it was an imperative. And I am so glad I did! I wore this cowl on an early morning brisk walk around the borough (Keystone State REPRESENT). It felt so lovely to have Pond Scum around my neck. And I have now just written the most unlikely sentence ever in the history of knitblogging.The SpecsPattern: Anniversary Cowl by Orinda5Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight, Pond Scum. This pattern calls for two strands held together, and I was happy to oblige.Needles: Size 7The springy-sproinginess of this pattern and yarn combo cannot be overstated. This might be one of my favorite cowls ever! I'm surprised that more knitters haven't given this pattern a try, it's completely mindless knitting and I know that everyone reading this has some extra solid sock yarn around. Notice I said SOLID. Variegated yarn would be a mistake. Even tragic.Last week's concert was transcendent. We had such a great time in Pittsburgh: the Curmudgeon, who was behind the wheel, actually drove to Knit One on his own, without any cajoling or simpering on my part, parked in front and said "Oh, I mean, this is where you wanted to go first, right?". He then proceeding to go to the back table, slump over and take a half hour nap. When he came to he asked "So, what did you get?". It is best not to try to understand his curious ways and just accept his mercurial nature.

What I got was some Koigu, a sock yarn for which I have a renewed liking. When I look at my Ravelry page, I see that I have actually been a prolific sock knitter at one time in my life, and I'm trying to get back to that place even though I cannot even image what that would look like. Yes, such is my current mindset of alienation from the socks. I'm thinking about some plain stockinette socks, just to reacquaint myself with the whole sock thing. But I'd be willing to entertain suggestions if you have any...

Boy, you deserve tha title of Cowl Queen this winter :) Glad to hear the DRMC has finally figured out the obvious - t'will make his life so much easier in the long run, won't it? My hubs recently made the same revelation, heh heh.

Doing a happy dance for the Pond Scum :) And drooling over your multi-colored Koigu. Maybe the Charade pattern would be a good way to showcase the colors? Do you have the handpainted socks book? (My word verification is "inget").

I haven't been up to Knit One for awhile (Natural Stitches is within easy walking distance of my house, and I am both lazy and smitten with that store), but the Koigu makes the trip look worth it. I guess Squirrel Hill is "walking distance," too -- it's just sort of an epic walk :-)

The cowl looks great, and you know how I love the solid colored STR. I kind of can't believe that I haven't jumped on the cowl bandwagon yet.

Pondscum around your neck. Hah! It's so pretty. And a much better use of that gorgeous yarn than stuffing one's socks into shoes and never having them see the light of day. Or, worse yet, wearing a hole through the heel and having them end up in the rag bag. ;)

I think I actually shuddered imagining that cowl in a variegated yarn...

That pond scum is such a cool looking color, but there is no way I could every wear that, unless I was going for the death warmed over look. I envy people who can wear pukey yellowey greens... pretty sure I just made up that word yellowey, and it looks odd, can you mispell a word you just made up?

I'll be waiting to see what you do with that Koigu, variegation and all...